Friday afternoon, I had a settlement that could have gone very, very wrong. But it didn't.
It was an "as is" sale of a totally renovated house which, after a lot of negotiating, sold at the right price.
Then there was the home inspection. Jay Markanich came up to do it. And oh were there issues! But nothing that couldn't be fixed.
Here's what Jay found:
- The HVAC, a supposedly new system, was manufactured in 2004. Oops.
- The electrical work may have been done by an aging hippie who never quite kicked the habit.
- Every appliance (other than the range) didn't work, although they were all "new".
- The hot water heater didn't heat the water, and it wobbled.
- Then there was the basement bathroom "vent to nowhere" ready to pour damp air into the space between the lower level and the first floor. Oh dear! Do I smell those little mold spoors growing between the support beams?
The "as is" clause notwithstanding, the seller (who is also a licensed real estate agent) agreed to do the right thing and fix it all.
Still, we had Jay come back for the walk through. And oops!
New HVAC wasn't turning on properly. Electrical work still a tad funky. The hot water heater still wobbled. though it did heat the water. And the vent to nowhere was hooked into the chimney, but wait! Cool damp air does not rise! It need to be rerouted to the outside.
So the seller probably had an interesting conversation with his contractor. And by settlement the next day, it seemed like it had all been done.
Until today. I got an email from the buyer, who is another one of those wonderful kids I forgot to have.
No heat.
No hot water!
Crap.
It's fixed now. The seller got his contractor there this morning.
And I did have the presence of mind to include a one year home warranty in the offer.
It just seems that when you sell a redo done by a Realtor, they seem to get it. It has to be right. And they have to do whatever they've agreed to do in the contract and all of the addenda. The seller may not have had the world's best contractor, but he was among the world's better sellers.
So this one wasn't a disaster after all.
And you know what? I don't want this buyer to ever go away.
OK, this is as close as I get to post-partum depression!
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